Me Against a Marauder
by MultiMusical
Summary: Hey y'all it's ColorsOfTheWind from Mugglenet. Here is Me Against a Marauder, my second LJ fic. Lily is devasted to find out that her two closest friends are moving to foreign countries and she has to work with James Potter all year.
1. One Simple Word

**Me Against A Marauder**

_Guess who's back?_

_Back again_

_Shady's back_

_Tell a friend_

_Guess who's back, guess who's back_

_Guess who's back, guess who's back_

_Eminem, Without Me_

**Chapter One: One Simple Word**

"LILY, GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE OR YOU'LL BE LATE FOR THAT FREAK SCHOOL!" Petunia Evans screamed at the top of her lungs. Lily Evans stirred in her bed and opened one eye. She glanced at her alarm clock. It was 10:03, and if she didn't get up, she would indeed be late. She heaved herself off of her bed and stood in front of the mirror. Her reddish-auburn hair was strewn across her face and she looked only semiconscious. Lily quickly brushed through her hair and twisted it into a ponytail. She put on the closest pair of jeans and a tee shirt she could find and bounded down the stairs and almost knocked over Petunia.

"Watch it, freak!" Petunia snapped, "My father said you should put your bags in the station wagon."

"Petunia, he's my father, too. Despite what you said when we were younger, I was not adopted." Lily said, rolling her eyes. Petunia stuck out her tongue. Lily picked up her luggage and walked out of the house. Her father was waiting for her in the car and Lily gave her mother a kiss.

"Bye, Petunia." Lily said shortly. She and her sister hugged stiffly. She and her father, Mark Evans, drove away to King's Cross Station. They arrived in a matter about ten minutes and Lily kissed her father good-bye and walked through the brick wall separating Platforms 9 and 10. She and her best friend, Nidale, found a compartment at the end of the train. Nidale sat on the lap of her boyfriend, Bradley Hank, and Lily left to go to the Head's Compartment, wondering who would be Head Boy. Remus Lupin maybe? Or possibly Amos Diggory?

"Evans!" came that oh-so-familiar voice.

"No. Way. Potter? You're Head Boy?" Lily said disbelievingly. James smirked as Lily took a seat across from him, looking like she was in a state of shock.

"Did you blackmail Dumbledore or something?" Lily asked, eyebrows raised. James shook his head, still smirking. Lily glared at him for smirking so much at her.

"Fine. Let's go tell the prefects what to do so I can get back to Nidale." Lily said angrily. They both got up and James held out his arm.

"Ladies first." he said happily. Lily rolled her eyes and walked out of the compartment, James following her like a new born puppy. They entered the prefect's compartment to about twenty-four prefects chatting among themselves. James plopped down next to Remus, who had become a prefect in his fifth year, and joined in the chatter.

"All right, everyone, I'm Lily Evans and this is James Potter," Lily said, gesturing to James, "We're the new Head Girl and Boy and Potter is going to be passing out the schedules for you all. These will be your patrol schedules. If you can't make your time, just contact Potter or I and we'll switch you around."

James started to pass around all of the schedules. He stood in front of Lily and handed her one.

"Here you go, Ms. Head Girl." he said promptly. Lily took the paper grudgingly.

"Well, you can all leave now, the meeting is over." Lily said loudly. It was a mad rush out the door as the prefects squeezed out the door and into their separate compartments. Lily and James were the last ones to leave. Lily said nothing as the two of them walked in silence to their compartments. She glanced over at James stiffly before entering her compartment to her two closest friends, Nidale and Rochelle.

Nidale was short for her age, with dark brown hair down to her shoulders and dark brown eyes to match it. She had a caramel tint to her skin and was always scribbling away, writing about some story she recently thought up. This coming October, she would be moving to Morocco where her grandparents lived. There, she would get a different type of training to become a healer. Rochelle was even shorter than Nidale and had strawberry blonde hair. She had bright blue eyes that were always teeming with life. The way boys look at Rochelle you'd think she was part veela. In fact, Lily had a strong suspicion that she was part veela. She also had a big mouth and a good memory. She would need that memory to remember all of the gossip she hears and collects.

"Where's Brad?" Lily asked as she plopped down on the seat opposite of Nidale. Random snacks were spread out on the seats.

"He went off with Andrew and Matthew." Nidale said, taking a bite out of a cauldron cake. Andrew and Matthew were Brad's best friends. Brad, who used to be VERY short, somehow sprouted about a foot over the summer. He had dark, black hair and brown eyes. Andrew, a Chinese boy, had pitch-black hair and was probably the one with almost the most common sense, only behind Remus. Matthew was a dirty blonde, short boy who had a monotone voice and would always be asleep during classes. Rochelle was very quiet, staring out the window as the train passed by the fields and tall grasses.

"Rochelle, you're actually not talking for once. Something wrong?" Lily asked apprehensively. Rochelle turned to look at Lily, her blue eyes sparkling with tears.

"I got a letter today. My foster parents can't afford to keep me anymore and I may have to go to live with my real father, over in America." Rochelle said quietly. Lily's eyes grew wide and Nidale dropped the Bertie Botts bean she was studying carefully.

"You're leaving?" Nidale asked disbelievingly. Rochelle shrugged as tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"I may have to, but I really don't want to leave, I" Rochelle stopped halfway through her sentence and Lily and Nidale understood why. Somebody was knocking at their door. Lily sighed.

"Who is it?" she called.

"Sirius Black." Came a voice from the other side of the door. Rochelle put her head in her hands. Sirius was always trying to get her to go out with him and it hasn't worked yet. But, don't think that stopped him from making out with every other willing girl in his year.

"Is it important? We're kind of in the middle of something." Nidale said, opening the door. Sirius was there, his arms crossed.

"Yes, have you seen Rochelle, is something wrong?" Sirius asked uncertainly. Head still in her hands, Rochelle shook her blonde head. Sirius shrugged and continued,

"Well, I wanted to ask if any of you have seen James? Remus came back from the prefect meeting but he didn't."

He looked over at Lily, as if directing the question more to her than to Nidale and Rochelle. Lily shook her head.

"I left him after I got to my compartment." Lily said nervously. Sirius nodded and left. Lily and Nidale shrugged at each other and continued to console Rochelle.

James had not returned to his compartment like Lily had. He had gone to the very end of the train, where a little bench was. He sat there, thinking hard about this coming year. It was the last year he had to get Lily to go out with him. "_Let's see all the things she said she hates about me ... hmm ... she said I'm arrogant, I have a big head, I jinx people for no reason, I ruffle my hair to make it look like I just got off my broom, I'm a bullying toe-rag ... hmm, this could take a while._" He thought to himself. He sat there for a while, just thinking about Lily, which made his stomach flip-flop repeatedly, until he spotted Sirius at an open compartment. He was saying something to the people inside and James immediately recognized who replayed. It was Lily's voice. James stood up in an instant, which was rather difficult, since his foot had fallen asleep. He watched as Sirius closed the compartment door and turned.

"Prongs, where've you been?" Sirius called, walking towards James. James put his hands in the pockets of his robes.

"Just been thinking." He said shyly. (A/N James Potter shy is kind of hard to imagine, no?)

He and Sirius walked back to the compartment. Somehow, they had gotten on to the subject of Quiddich.

"Rochelle, we're going to miss you so much!" Lily said sadly, embracing her best friend. She and Nidale had joined in Rochelle's tears and now they were all a big, wet mess and had no time to clean themselves up. The train had stopped and it was time to get off. The three of them, still crying, walked off the train.

"Evans!"

Lily gave off a frustrated sigh as James Potter came running towards her.

"Did you what happened? What's wrong? Why are you crying? It was Snape, wasn't it? I'll kill him!" James said this very quickly and had already started to run off, most likely to find Snape and Lily had to hold on to his robe to restrain him.

"It's not Snape, Potter. In fact, it's none of your business." Lily said, sniffling. James cast her a concerned look.

"Could you just tell me what's wrong? I might be able to help." James said slyly. Lily just shook her head dramatically as more tears fell down her face.

"You can't do anything." She said through sobs. But James wasn't about to give up. As they entered the school, he still badgered her about it.

"Please? You never know, I could help." James protested. Lily rolled her puffy eyes.

"It's me, okay? My foster family can't afford to keep me and once the first term is over, I have to go live with my jackass of a father over in America!" Rochelle screamed. She glared at everyone and rushed to the girl's bathroom, closely followed by Nidale. Lily was about to follow them, but a strong arm stopped her. She turned and was not surprised to see it was James.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't of pestered." James said defiantly. Lily scowled at him as another tear came down her face.

"You? Sorry for something? Yeah right." she said angrily. James sighed.

"I've been sorry for a lot of things before, Lily, you just haven't noticed." he said with a shrug of his shoulders. Lily raised her eyebrows.

"You just called me Lily." she said, shocked. James turned a light red, almost pink, color.

"Well, I" James was cut off.

"OI! YOU'RE HOLDING UP THE DOORWAY!" Sirius yelled from a few feet behind them. Lily glanced at James and ran off to the bathroom, following Nidale and Rochelle's foot steps. James turned around and glared as Sirius, Remus, and Peter joined him.

"Just when I got her to actually talk to me without cursing me, you come along." he muttered grumpily. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"You guys are the Heads. You'll have plenty of time to talk to her." he said, brushing the subject off.

James was disappointed when Lily and her friends did not show up at the feast. He listened to Dumbledore's usual speech, only half aware of what went on around him. He didn't eat much. That always happened when he came to a meal with Lily Evans on his mind. He just kept glancing up at where Lily would normally sit and it hurt to see it empty. The fifth years started to bring the first years to their respective common rooms. James didn't join in the conversation as they trudged up to Gryffindor Tower. Remus said the password, "Billywig", and they entered the common room they had grown to love over the last six years. James's eyes wandered around and he immediately spotted Lily's vivid red hair. She and Nidale were sitting on squishy armchairs. Without really thinking, James ran over to Lily. Nidale glanced up at him nervously and made an excuse about going to unpack and walked up to the dormitory.

"What do you want?" Lily asked grudgingly. She turned to look at James. Her eyes were red from crying and there were teeth marks where she had chewed her fingernails.

"I want to know if you're okay." James said cautiously. Lily sighed and to James's complete surprise, she started to spill out her feelings for him

"Of course I'm not okay. Rochelle is going to move to America right after the first term ends and Nidale is moving to Morocco in a month and you know what'll happen then? I'll be alone! I'm not even going to be able to spend a lot of time with either of them before they leave because I have to be the Head Girl and I'll have even more responsibilities! I can't deal with this!" Lily said sobbingly. She bit her lip and turned to look the other way. James was lost for words.

"C'mon, Prongs," he thought to himself, "This is your chance! Comfort her!"

"You'll never be alone. You have all of the other seventh years and you have plenty of friends." James said soothingly. He had almost said that she would always have him, but something told him she wouldn't find that very comforting.

Lily turned to him silently. More tears filled her aching emerald eyes and she ran up to her dormitory. James sighed and leaned back against the cushion of his armchair. Sirius sat down next to him.

"What did you do to make her cry?" Sirius asked disbelievingly. James threw a pillow at him.

"I didn't do anything. I'm going to bed." he said tonelessly. He trudged up to the empty dormitory and was surprised to see a sleek, golden owl on his bed. It dropped the letter in its beak on his bed and flew out the open window. He glided over to it and ripped it open. It was very short, but nothing meant more to him. James instantly recognized who wrote it and went to sleep feeling all fuzzy inside. He left the letter on his nightstand, which on it was written one simple word.

"Thanks."

**A/N- I have this story posted on another sight, but it isn't finished yet. Please leave me some reviews: )**


	2. Flipflops and shocks

We try to take it slow, but we're still losing control

We try to make it work, but it's feelings of the worst

And I'm crazy for trying to be your lady

I think I'm going crazy

Black Eyed Peas, Shut Up

Chapter Two: Flip-flops and Shocks

The next morning was Potions first thing. Lily caught James's eye and blushed furiously, remembering the owl she sent him last night. This rather surprised her. She NEVER blushed because of James Potter. Never. Ever. She hid her head slightly when she was forced to sit next to him during breakfast. It was either that or sit at the very end of the table, a place she didn't like very much. James grinned broadly at her as she sat down stiffly next to him.

"Good morning, m'dear." he said brightly. Lily sighed and rolled her eyes.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" she asked exasperatedly. James pretended to count off his fingers.

"I believe the record is three hundred and sixty-five." he said seriously.

"Wow, I thought it was much more than that." Rochelle said sarcastically. She, Nidale, and Lily were much happier that morning. The night before, they had all made a pact that in three years they would meet at King's Cross, no matter the circumstances.

"Schedules are here." Remus said as the 7th year's schedules were being passed down to them. Sirius glanced over it.

"Oh, would you look at that! We have a Hogsmeade trip in three weeks! Rochelle, would you like to accompany me?" Sirius said in mock surprise. Rochelle rolled her eyes.

"Give it up, Sirius. Besides, I have Quiddich practice early in the morning that day, I'm probably not going to be up to it." she said matter-of-factly. Rochelle was the keeper for Gryffindor. Sirius turned to James.

"Nice day to schedule a Quiddich practice, Mr. Captain." he said, sniggering. Silently, James agreed. He had been hoping he could get Lily to spend the day with him at Hogsmeade and already, he had messed that up. "Typical me.." he grumbled.

The seven of them, that is James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Rochelle, Nidale, and Peter, headed down the stairs and into the halls of the dungeons.

"The first class of the year and we have Salandar..." Lily grumbled, refering to their potions master. He was old, fat, and Lily felt that he personally hated her. There had been numerous when Salandar would take points from Gryffindor because Lily had done small things like trip him by total accident and James would stand up for her and say that it was unfair and Gryffindor would end up loosing twice as many points as it started off with. Lily smiled to herself, thinking about this. She then snapped out of it, mentally hit herself on the head, and scolded herself for even thinking happy thoughts about James Potter. The thought of that sent a shiver down her spine. There were few seats left and in all of the clutter between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins (who they had potions with), Lily found herself sitting next to James, something she hadn't intended on doing.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Lily Evans actually sitting next to James Potter twice in one day!" James cried, dramatically put his hand on his chest in surprise.

"Ha ha." Lily said sarcastically. James smiled slyly at her.

"Oh, come on, you know you wanted to sit next to me." he said, grinning broadly again. Lily rolled her eyes, but for once, she didn't have a verbal reply. James smirked smugly at her, his hazel eyes full of warmth. She opened her mouth and was about to reply when Professor Salandar entered.

"Five points from Gryffindor for talking, Evans." he snapped, obviously taking her open mouth as a signal she was talking. James's jaw dropped in anger.

"She wasn't talking!" he said defensively. Lily could feel herself turning red from the embarrassment of having James Potter stick up for her.

"Ah, but Mr. Potter, you are. That's another five points from Gryffindor and if you have anything to say about it, Mr. Black, I don't mind taking another five points off." Salandar snapped, eyeing Sirius's open mouth, which was poised so you could tell he was about to say something. He shut it grudgingly and settled on simply glaring at the old man.

"Grouchy old git." James muttered angrily. Lily sighed.

"You didn't have to do that." she whispered so Salandar could not hear her. James shrugged.

"It's tradition." he murmered simply. Lily turned to look at the Professor and could help but let the smile that was creeping onto her face come out into the open.

"I'm not going to waste your time on speeches or lectures about N.E.W.T.'s," Salandar started. Everyone cheered, "I'm saving that for next term," everyone 'awwwww'ed, "Your first potion I want you to concoct takes two. So, boys, you can pick your partners."

James turned to Lily with a lopsided grin. Lily sighed again.

"Let's start." she said, deciding not to protest. She looked over and saw that Sirius had cornered Rochelle into being his partner and that Nidale was with her boyfriend, Brad. She turned back to look at James who had been watching her watch the people around her. He smiled weakly at her and Lily was surprised to feel herself returning the smile.

"Hormones..." she thought to herself, mentally shaking her head in disgust.

They started to add in their ingredients to their cauldron, working in silence. James was afraid he would say something wrong and Lily was afraid Salandar would take more points off if she talked too much. There were times when Lily would glance up at James to see him staring at her and her emerald green eyes and his warm hazel eyes would meet and Lily's stomach would do a back flip.

"Pass me the gillyweed, James?" Lily asked without thinking.

"AHA!" James shouted. Professor Salandar and most of the class looked at him warily.

"Sorry.." he muttered.

"Aha!" he whispered in Lily's ear. She raised her eyebrows.

"Aha what?" she inquired, returning to the potion.

"You called me James, not Potter!" he whispered gleefully. Lily turned red for the third time that day.

"No, I didn't!" she lied. James rolled his eyes.

"You're a terrible liar, love. We both know you called me James." James said smugly. Lily frowned.

"First of all, don't call me love. Second of all, what does it matter what I call you?" she said stiffly. James smiled evilly at her.

"You don't hate me as much anymore." he said triumphately. Lily sighed.

"That may be true, but don't get any ideas, lover boy." she snapped. She turned back to the potion and James paused for a second, trying to tame his desire to jump for joy, before he joined her.

Lily felt rather awkward around James that day. When he smiled at her, her stomach would do a big backflip and she'd giggle like a moron. She told herself it must be indigestion or something like that, but that annoying little voice in her said "I don't think so. Heh, heh, heh." She tried to ignore that annoying voice but it kept on coming back. It was during Charms that she figured she had gone mad. She was deep in thought when someone's voice broke her thoughts.

"Lily? Lily! LILY!"

She came back into focus to see James waving his hand in front of her eyes.

"Hmm?" she said groggily.

"C'mon, Professor Dumbledore wants to see us. We're going to miss a bit of lunch." James explained. Lily stood up and she and James walked out of the empty Charms classroom. Apparently, everyone had already left for lunch.

James looked over at Lily to see her staring at him for once. Lily was actually surprised to feel herself watching James Potter's movements.

"You seem kind of distant." James said as they turned another corner. Lily shrugged.

"I've got a lot"

"On your mind?" James said, basically reading Lily's mind. She nodded.

"I have, too." James continued, "What's been on your mind?"

It was obvious to Lily he was trying to make conversation and she decided to just go along with it.

"Everything. I've been thinking mostly about Nidale and Rochelle and some, erm, other things." Lily said carefully. She was not about to tell James exactly what she had been thinking about, which happened to be him. James, though, was still curious.

"If you ever need us, the Marauders and I can always help you. If you don't feel like hanging out with the other girls or something." James said cautiously. Lily didn't say anything. That was too much to think about, even for the smartest witch of the 7th years. They soon arrived at the stone gargoyle, saving Lily from having to reply to James's offer. She looked over uneasily at him.

"D'you know the password?" she asked uncertainly.

"Uhh..Flitwick told me it was either licorice wand," he paused and the gargoyle didn't move, "or sugar quills."

This time, the gargoyle sprang to life and revealed a spiraling staircase. The two of them jumped on and were brought up to Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Ready?" Lily asked, half joking. James smiled and nodded. "There goes my stomach again.." Lily thought as her stomach did an odd series of flipflops. She smiled weakly and pushed open the doors of Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore was at his desk, reading a muggle book Lily recognized as The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. He put it down when they entered and gestured to the two fold-up chairs in front of his desk. They both sat down quickly.

"Now, I've called you here to tell you both that the school was recently broke into over the summer by two death eaters," Dumbledore started. James got a quick glance of Lily's shocked face before feeling his own jaw drop, "We are ninety-five percent sure we increased the safety enough to keep the Death Eaters at bay, but there is still that five percent that says we're not entirely sure. You might be wondering why I told you this. What I want you to do is to alert the prefects to stick together on patrols and look extra hard. But, I would rather you not tell them why. It would spread through the school like wild fire."

Lily and James both nodded.

"Now, I am aware that your first prefect meeting is this Saturday. Get the alert out as soon as possible. That is all. You may go to lunch now." Dumbledore finished.

Lily and James got up from their seats and walked silently out the door.

"I cannot believe death eaters got into the school!" Lily whispered urgently. James nodded in agreement.

"What has the world come to?" (A/N that reminds me of a joke a friend told me where this dark skinned guy goes, 'What has the world come to when the world's best rapper is a white guy?' and the guy is talking about Eminem. Just a random little tid bid.) James questioned sadly. Lily was about to enter the Great Hall when she noticed James had stopped.

"Are you hungry?" James asked randomly. Lily shrugged.

"Not really." she said sincerely.

"Me neither." James said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. The two of them walked into the Great Hall together (gasp!). They sat, not with their friends, but at the end of the table, conversing in dark whispers about what Dumbledore told them.

"Would you look at that! Lily Evans and James Potter actually having a civilized conversation!" Sirius said, laughing to himself, looking down the table at Lily and James.

"She sooo likes him." Rochelle said sadly. Remus raised his eyebrows.

"What makes you say that?" he asked uncertainly.

"She's always talking about him, her knees start to quiver when he looks at her, and they've been spending a whole lot of time together. She's smitten, but she won't admit it." Rochelle said simply.

"Well, technically, they have to spend time together. They're the Heads." Peter pointed out. Nidale rolled her eyes.

"Don't mind Rochelle, she's been saying Lily and James were meant to be for about three years now." she said exasperatedly. Rochelle glared at her.

"Well they are." she said forcefully.

"Yeah, and I'm going to marry George Clooney." Nidale said sarcastically.

"Who?" Sirius and Rochelle said together. They were both purebloods and had not the faintest idea who George Clooney was, opposed to Nidale, who was muggleborn.

"Do you think they could get into Hogwarts again?" Lily questioned. She and James, completely unaware that a certain five people were talking about them at that very moment, had been talking about all of the startling information they just recieved. James shrugged.

"Honestly, I don't know. I just want to know why they even broke in in the first place. Over the summer? It's not like anyone stays here over the summer break." James pointed out. Lily sighed.

"As if I don't already have enough on my mind..." she grumbled. James smiled warmly at her and (big surprise!) her stomach did another series of flip-flops.

"Well, we should get to our classes, I'd probably wind up in detention if I'm late for divination again." Lily said nervously. James nodded and separated from her.

Lily walked over to Rochelle and Nidale, who were both grinning evilly.

"Hello, Mrs. Potter!" they both chorused. Lily whacked them with her bookbag.

"Shut up!" she scolded, going red.

"Lily's going red!" Rochelle and Nidale said in unsion in a sing-song voice.

"Shut up!" Lily repeated, more forcefully this time. She always got touchy like this when her friends accused her of liking James. It just ticked her off. A whole lot.

"Come on, we all know you have the hots for James Potter!" Rochelle said, rolling her eyes, "There's even a rumour going around that you guys are going out!"

"Fist of all, I do NOT have the hots for James Potter and second of all we are most certainly NOT going out!" Lily cried, crossing her arms. Nidale rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, sure, Lils." she said sarcastically.

James was getting a similar treatment from his friends.

"So, lover boy, how is dear Lilykins doing?" Sirius asked slyly as he, James, Remus, and Peter walked up to Muggle Studies.

"Sirius, would you quit calling her that? It sounds wrong in so many ways." Remus said, shaking his head in disgust. Sirius shrugged and turned to look at James.

"So, how is she doing?" Sirius repeated. James smiled in a distant way.

"She's wonderful, as usual. I can't wait for tonight, it's our first patrol!" he said excitedly.

"You know, Rochelle thinks that Lily might like you." Remus said, remembering their conversation at lunch. A humongous grin broke out on James's handsome face.

"Why'd she think that?" he asked, trying to hide his joy.

"Well, she said that Lily is always talking about you, that her knees start to quiver when you look at her, and she's been spending a lot of time with you." Remus said knowledgeably. James turned so that he was facing the wall oppisite of him and bellowed,

"WHA-HOOO!"

He then started to a little victory dance before he realized that his friends had kept on walking and were now about ten feet in front of him. He ran to catch up with them, a bit short of breath.

"Technically, the last one doesn't count because she has to spend time with me, since we're both Heads." James pointed out.

"That's what I said." Peter said, obviously glad someone was agreeing with him.

"Yeah, but she didn't have to sit with only you during lunch time." Sirius said, eyebrows raised.

"Well, we were just discussing something Dumbledore told us." James said, trying to act nonchalant. He was trying his best to make sure he didn't let slip what Dumbledore had told him and Lily. Sirius didn't inquire about this, he just smirked all the way through Muggle Studies.

A/N PLEASE REVIEW: ) TANKIES


	3. Heads over heels literally

**And they say  
She's so lucky  
She's a star  
But she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart, thinking  
If there's nothing missing in my life  
Why do these dreams come at night?  
Britney Spears, Lucky**

Chapter Three: Heads over Heels... literally

It was time for patrolling and James pumped. Lily, on the other hand, was half asleep. Her eyes were red and puffy and it was obvious to James she had been thinking about Nidale and Rochelle. It was pitch dark in the corridor as Lily and James paced back and forth. Lily, not able to see well out of her puffy eyes, did not take a long while to trip and fall onto the ground face forward.

"Lily! Lily, you o.k.?" James asked, fear growing on his face. He grabbed Lily's arm. He immediately noticed she was covering one half of her face with her palm and rested his hand on her's and attempted to pull it off. "Lily, do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?"

Lily shook her head, trying to pull away from James's grip. But, he won and her hand was pulled from her face. A large bruise was forming where she had fallen.

"I'm taking you down to the Hospital Wing." James said simply. Lily shook her head again.

"I'll be fine, I don't need to go to the Hospital Wing." she said, biting her lip.

"I don't care, I'm taking you down to the Hospital Wing." James said sharply. Lily glared at him.

"I told you already, James, I don't need to go anywhere." Lily said rebelliously. She continued to pace up and down the corridor, limping slightly.

"Your ankle, too?" James said sympathetically, noticing this, "That's it, Lily, I am taking you down to the Hospital Wing."

He grasped her arm and pretty much dragged her down the stairs.

"I'm telling you, James, I don't need to go to the Hospital Wing!" Lily moaned.

"And I'm telling you, Lily, I don't care. You're hurt and I'm bringing you down to the Hospital Wing." James said, shrugging.

"But we need to be on patrol!" Lily pointed out.

"Patrolling can wait!" James said angrily. He brought her into the Hospital Wing, a place he had been so many times before. Madame Pomfrey sat in a chair, deep into a romance novel when she noticed James and a disgruntled Lily enter.

"Ms. Evans! What happened here?" she asked, studying the bruise on her face. She then turned to James suspiciously, "Mr. Potter, do you have anything to do with this?"

James looked at her with sincere shock.

"Do you really accuse me of harming Lily Evans?" he asked quietly. Madame Pomfrey sighed and brought Lily over to a bed. She cleaned her up in about ten seconds and Lily returned to James, looking much better than she just did. She even flashed him a small smile before thanking Madame Pomfrey and heading out the door.

"You feeling better?" James asked apprehensively. Lily nodded. They patrolled in silence for a while until Lily spoke up.

"James?"

"Yeah?" James said, looking up into her bright green eyes.

"Thanks... again." Lily said sincerely. James smiled at her, hardly believing his luck

"There goes my stomach, again!" Lily said without realizing she had said it aloud. James raised his eyebrows and Lily blushed to her roots.

"Did I just say that out loud?" she asked nervously. James nodded. She bit her lip and turned a deeper shade of red.

"Jeez, Lily, you'd think it's two hundred degrees out!" James said, referring to her current state.

"Shut up, James." Lily grumbled. She smiled at him, still embarrassed about saying her thoughts aloud. She glanced down at her watch and realized their patrolling time was over.

"Well, we should be heading back." James said, also noticing the time. Lily nodded and the two of them walked back to Gryffindor Tower, which was about a ten minute walk from the first floor, where they were. That's when James's eyes darted down to Lily's ankle. He was shocked to see she was still limping.

"Lily, didn't Madame Pomfrey fix your ankle?" He said, eyebrows raised. Lily looked down at her feet.

"She didn't exactly know.." she murmured. James sighed.

"What is with you? This is isn't like you, Lily Evans, to make yourself go through this kind of pain!" James asked, looking straight at her.

"Just drop it." Lily said sharply. But still, James continued to badger her about it.

"Okay! Fine! I give up!" Lily cried. She pointed her wand at her ankle and whispered, "Lortisfixius."

"Thank you." James said shortly. They returned to the common room to see Sirius down there.

"Back from your night time stroll?" He asked slyly. Lily rolled her eyes.

"What're you doing up so late, Padfoot?" James asked, walking over to his best friend.

"Waiting for you." he said sarcastically. Lily smiled and joined the two boys.

"Seriously?" James asked. Sirius sighed.

"Just been thinking." he said simply. Lily, again, rolled her eyes.

"Sure." she said with a hint of sarcasm. Sirius looked at her with mock fury.

"Good looking guys can think!" he protested. Lily laughed. James, on the other hand, wasn't very happy about all this. It looked like to him that Lily and Sirius were flirting. He ruffled his ravenous hair, something he hadn't done for a good two days. Lily didn't too happy about this, but she decided not to comment.

"So, did you catch anyone while patrolling?" Sirius asked lightly. Lily shook her head. In the two and a half hours that followed, Sirius, Lily, and James sat in the common room, just talking about random things.

"Sheesh, it's two 'o clock in the morning!" Lily said, looking down at her watch. James smiled astutely.

"Who would have thought Lily Evans could actually have a decent conversation with two Marauders for two and a half hours?" he asked, smiling.

"The world as we know it is coming to an end." Sirius said in mock sadness.

"Ha, ha." Lily said sarcastically. She yawned and walked over to the steps leading to the Girl's dormitory. She then paused and turned to look at the two Marauders.

"G'night, Sirius.. James." she said slowly, looking at each of them in turn. As soon as he was sure she was in her dormitory, Sirius turned to James and said in a fake high pitched, girlish voice,

"G'night, James! I looooove you James! Kiss me, James!" He then started making ridiculous kissy faces at his best friend, who had gone very red in the face.

"Shut up, Padfoot!" James said, kicking Sirius in the shins. Sirius just smirked at him. The two of them walked up to their dormitory, pushing each other playfully and telling each other to shut up.

Lily had tried to enter her dormitory quietly, as to not wake up her friends. Yeah, well, that didn't work. She tripped on someone's back pack and made quite a lot of noise, since she had knocked over half the stuff on the closest night stand by accident. Rochelle sleepily raised her blonde head.

"Lils? What's going on? What time is it?" she slurred. Lily bit her lip.

"Um, about two o clock." she said quietly.

"GO BACK TO SLEEP!" Nidale yelled from the other side of the room. Rochelle paid her no heed.

"What are you doing out of bed at two o clock in the morning, not even in your pajamas yet?" Rochelle asked groggily.

"Nothing, I was just talking to James and Sirius." Lily said quietly. Rochelle was suddenly wide awake.

"Well, well, well, Mrs. Potter just turned into Ms. Player." she said, hiding her giggles. Lily glared and threw a teddy bear that had been lying on the ground at Rochelle. She got up, changed into her pajamas and got into bed.

Lily knew she didn't get enough sleep that night.

"WAKE UP!" came Alice's shrill voice. Alice Hodge was a girl in their year. She was engaged to Frank Longbottom, who graduated two years ago. Lily raised her red head from her pillow and groaned.

"Four and a half freakin' hours of sleep..." Lily mumbled. It was now 7 'o clock and she had fallen asleep at about 2:30.

"That's what you get for staying up all night with your boyfriends." Rochelle said, smirking. Lily glared at her.

"Shut up, Roch!" she said grumpily. She swore under breath and changed into her Hogwarts robes. She, Rochelle, and Nidale (who had no idea what happened last night) walked down into the common room, talking about the upcoming Halloween feast.

"It sucks so much I can't be there. I'll be over in Morocco by then.." Nidale moaned. Lily nodded numbly. Her eyes had wandered over to a certain boy with messy black hair and hazel eyes. James caught Lily's eye and smiled at her. Lily smiled back, only to be noticed by Rochelle.

"AHA!" she yelled, sounding very much like James that day during potions, "Aha! Aha! Aha! You and James were SMILING at each other! I was right!"

"Rochelle, shut the hell up." Lily said stiffly. Rochelle smirked at Lily evilly.

"I was right! You have the hots for James Potter!" she said this last sentence very loud, attracting much of the common room's attention. Lily looked down at her feet as James and Sirius stared over her and her friends with a questioning look.

"You have the biggest mouth Hogwarts School has ever seen, Rochelle Arielle Williams." Nidale said, smirking. Rochelle simply shrugged.

"That's what I'm famous for." she said brightly. Lily turned a deep shade of red as James started to walk over in her direction.

"Lily's turning red!" Nidale and Rochelle sang in a whisper. Lily elbowed both of them.

"Hey, Lily, McGonagal said she wants to talk to us before our first class. You want to get going?" he asked hopefully. Lily nodded as Rochelle erupted into a fit of giggles.

"I will get you." Lily mouthed to Rochelle and walked out of the portrait hole with James.

"So, what was with that thing Rochelle said in the common room?" James asked cautiously. Lily smiled.

"Rochelle was just going on about how she thinks I like you." she said, going a light shade of pink. James smirked.

"Do you?" he asked, with out really thinking. Lily shrugged shyly.

"Yeah, I like you as a friend." she said after a few moments of thinking. James smiled.

"It's a start." he mumbled.

"What was that?" Lily asked curiously.

"Oh, uh, we're here." James said, thankful they had just reached McGonagal's classroom. Lily nodded and the two of them walked in. McGonagal looked up from a stack of papers she had been grading.

"Ms. Evans, Mr. Potter." she said, acknowledging the two of them, "Professor Dumbledore has asked me to tell you both that the Head's Room is finally ready and that your stuff has just moved there. If you feel a need to move out, you can, but I'm sure once you discover the perks of it, you'll decide to stay there. The password is 'fruit loom' and it's located on the seventh floor, a few portraits down from the fat lady. It is a portrait of a balding butler named Sam."

Lily and James nodded and Professor McGonagal dismissed them. They decided their friends would be eating by now and headed down to the Great Hall.

"I wonder what McGonagal meant by the 'perks'." Lily wondered aloud.

"When Frank Longbottom was Head Boy, he said there was a Jacuzzi and a broom polisher in his bathroom." James said thoughtfully. Lily laughed. The two of them joined their friends.

"Welcome back, Mrs. Potter!" Rochelle and Nidale chorused in their singsong voices. Lily turned red and threw a piece of toast at each of them while James grinned.

"That's getting old, guys." Lily said, helping herself to some scrambled eggs.

"No it's not!" James, Rochelle, and Nidale said together. Lily felt a small smile creep onto her face, but she dismissed it instantly. Sirius and Remus were smirking, James was still grinning like mad, Rochelle and Nidale had smug looks on their faces, and all of this was driving Lily nuts!

"You're all against me, aren't you?" Lily joked.

"That's the plan." Sirius said, only to be hit with a piece of toast from Lily. Lily and Rochelle began to chat about random stuff, Nidale move down a couple seats so she could talk to Brad and James and Sirius were thinking of their annual Halloween prank. Remus was talking (possibly flirting) with one of Lily's other friends, Ashlee Pushut (Also known as Ash). Ashlee had black hair and green eyes. She looked nothing like her twin, Jacqueline, or Jackie, who was platinum blonde, but still had the same green eyes. Ashlee had dyed her hair a couple of years ago, making it much easier to tell the two of them apart. Peter was trying to join in James and Sirius's conversation and wasn't succeeding.

Their first class, transfiguration, was the oddest class they had ever experienced.

"This assignment I'm going to be giving to you may sound odd to you at first. This morning, I transfigured every one of your magical items to normal Muggle items." McGonagal started. There was an angry outburst from the students and it took about three minutes for McGonagal to calm them, "You are going to have to live like this for one week. After a week, you will bring all of the items I transfigured and you have to transfigure them back to their normal selves."

"We have to live like bloody Muggles!" Sirius asked loudly. McGonagal nodded. Devastated looks were appearing all over the room.

"What about our wands? Can we use them?" Ash asked.

"As long as you don't use it to transfigure any of your Muggle items." McGonagal said simply. Ash and Jackie started to talk in urgent whispers.

"What if it's electronic? We won't be able to use them." Lily pointed out.

"I put spells on the electric items so that they can be used." McGonagal said smartly.

That day seemed to drag on. Everyone was eager to know what their new Muggle items would look like. And on top of that, Lily and James were excited to see the Head's Room. Lily's last class, Divination, had to be the longest class she had ever sat through. She had been paired up with Jackie Pushut. Lily looked into her crystal ball, too distracted to actually see anything.

"Can't concentrate?" Jackie asked. Lily sighed and nodded.

"No one can. Ash has been fidgeting all day, I'm so glad she's not in this class." Jackie said. Lily giggled. "Here, I'll give it a try."

Jackie pulled the crystal ball towards her and stared into it.

"I see you... you're on a stage, singing a song and thousands of people are cheering for you." Jackie said, a misty look on her face.

"Really?" Lily said uncertainly. She had never fancied herself as a singer.

"No, but Professor Armani just walked by and she would just end up rambling about the inner eye if she noticed we can't see anything." Jackie said simply. Lily smiled and wondered why she hadn't hung out with Jackie before now. She seemed to be really nice and fun to be around.

The class ended after what seemed like three hours and Lily rushed to the 7th floor to find the portrait of the balding butler. She was walking so fast that she bumped right into James, who was also looking for the balding butler. James found it quickly, being one of the masters of knowing where everything was at Hogwarts and they quickly said the password, fruit loom, and entered the Head's room for the first time.

The room was gold and green. Velvet couches and armchairs, much like the ones in the Gryffindor common room were scattered around the room. There were three doors, one with a gold plaque with the name James etched into it and one that said Lily. The third one, they assumed, was a bathroom. They glanced at each other silently and entered their rooms.

Lily was surprised to see her room buzzing with technology. A mini tape player was on her bed where she had left her magical ear, something then maximized the volume of anything. Instead of her Quick Quotes Quill, a laptop computer lay neatly on her bedside table. But what she found to be the most different was the poster on her wall. It used to be of a famous Quiddich star she fancied. Now, it was a big poster of Madonna.

James was shocked at what he found. His invisibility cloak had been turned into a trench coat, the Marauder's Map was an atlas, and his broomstick was just a normal broom! His sacred Wimbourne Wasps poster, signed by four of the players, had been turned into a stationary poster of the Boston Red Sox, much to his surprise. He wasn't very happy being cut off from all of his magical items, having grown up with magic. He walked out of his room to find Lily about to leave the Head's Room.

"I'm going to go see how Rochelle and Nidale's stuff turned out." she called. He ran up to her.

"I'll come with you. I'll probably go catch up with Sirius and the others." James said casually. The two of them walked down about fifteen feet to the Fat Lady's portrait and went up to the separate dormitories.

"Why, hello, Ms. Head Girl, back from your bonding time with Jamesie?" Rochelle said slyly. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I've just confessed my undying love for him." Lily said sarcastically. Rochelle smiled and led Lily into the dorm.

"Nidale, who the hell is that?" Ash was saying, gesturing to a Muggle poster of a young Johnny Depp by Nidale's bed. Nidale shrugged.

"I dunno, but he's hot." Nidale said simply. Jackie and Ash giggled. Nidale frowned.

"Can you believe this? My last week at Hogwarts and I have to live it like a Muggle!" she complained. It suddenly hit Lily. This was Nidale's last week! She vowed she would spend as much time with her as humanly possible before she left for Morocco. Nidale turned to see Lily.

"Oh, hey, Lils, didn't see you there! Back from your snog session with Potter?" Nidale asked, grinning. Lily threw a pillow at her friend.

"Do you people ever shut up about James and I?" Lily said exasperatedly. Ash raised her eyebrows.

"So now you guys are on first names terms?" she asked slyly. Lily turned red and the entire girl's dormitory burst into laughter. This just made Lily turn even redder in the face.

"Shouldn't you be patrolling with your one true love?" Rochelle said through fits of giggles. Lily rolled her eyes and glanced down at her watch.

"Sheesh, you're actually right! I'll go get him." Lily said, turning around to walk out of the dormitory.

"Say hello to Jamesie for us!" Jackie called. Lily sighed and walked out of the girl's dorm. She ran up the opposite stairs to the boy's dormitory. Sirius looked through the "peek-a-boo" he had put there three years ago. It was a hole that the people inside could see through, but the people on the other side of the door couldn't.

"Oh, Jamesie-boy, your little flower is at the door to confess her burning desire for you!" Sirius called over to James.

"I HEARD THAT, SIRIUS BLACK!" Lily yelled from the other side of the door. James glared at a chuckling Sirius and opened the door.

"Hey, Lily." he said brightly. Lily smiled at him.

"It's time for our patrols, we have them early on Fridays, remember?" Lily said, glancing around the dormitory. Remus and Peter were arguing about something and Sirius was flipping through the Big Book 'o Pranks. James grinned.

"I'll see you guys later." he called back to his friends.

"Make sure you're back by your curfew, young man!" Sirius said, sounding very much like Mrs. Potter. James rolled his eyes and he and Lily walked out of the dormitory to start their patrols.

**A/N As I said in ch 3 of Parallel Universe, I haven't been able to update because I just got my password back after a mix up when I changed my email address. Hope you liked this one! R/R!**


	4. Truth or Dare

I'm not ill  
I don't need to  
Take a pill  
To fix what you do  
Cure can't come through  
Cause baby, all I do is suffer from  
Symptoms of you  
Lindsay Lohan, Symptoms of You

Chapter Four: Truth or Dare

Their patrols went much smoother than the first time. Lily didn't trip and James didn't have to take her down to the Hospital Wing. They returned to the Head's Room, discussing Quiddich.

"We're still looking for a new chaser, all the ones that have tried out are horrible." James was saying. "Are you any good at Quiddich?"

"I'm a pretty good flyer, but I've never actually tried to play the positions or anything." Lily said thoughtfully.

"You should come and try out, it's loads of fun." James suggested hopefully. Lily shrugged.

"Maybe I will." she said after a moment of thinking. James smiled and Lily's stomach did the biggest backflip yet.

"What is with this?" she thought anxiously, refering to these frequent flip-flops and back flips, "Am I started to like James or something? No way! I don't like James Potter!"

They arrived at the Head's Room and said good night to each other. In six days, it would be full moon. James wondered how he could get out of patroling with Lily so he could join his friends in some Marauder mischief. His mind was crammed with thoughts when he drifted off into a deep sleep. The next day was saturday. (YAY! WEEKEND!) That night, Lily and James had the prefects meeting where they were supposed to warn them about sticking together.

Lily woke up at about 9:30 that morning and decided to go find her friends. She walked into the girl's dormitory where Nidale, Rochelle, Ash, and Jackie were on the floor, in a circle.

"Hey Lily!" Nidale said happily. Lily plopped herself down between Rochelle and Ash.

"What's up guys?" Lily said, turning to look at her friends.

"Since we are cut off from our magical items, we were playing an old fashioned game of truth or dare and it's my turn." Ash explained. She turned to her twin, "Jackie, truth or dare?"

Jackie thought for a split second before blurting out the word, "dare". Ash grinned evilly at Jackie, who stayed calm.

"All right, Jackie. I dare you to give yourself electric blue high lights that zigzag like lightning bolts. And they have to be pernament." Ash said evilly. Jackie laughed.

"Fine." she said, retrieving her wand from her night stand. She said a few unaudible words and pointed at her hair. About five or six eletric blue streaks appeared in her platinum blonde hair. She struck a pose.

"How do I look?" she joked as everyone started to giggle.

"Go look in the mirror." Rochelle said. Jackie smiled and looked into the mirror. She played around with her platinum, eletric blue streaked hair.

"I like it." she said brightly, taking a seat back on the floor.

"O.K, it's my turn. Lily, truth or dare?" Jackie asked, turning to look at Lily. Lily thought for a moment.

"Truth." she said, not wanting to have to end up dying her hair green, or something like that. Jackie grinned wickedly.

"Do you like James Potter?" she asked. Rochelle burst into a fit of giggles. Lily turned red.

"As a friend, yeah, but nothing more. He's fun to be around and he's a great guy and he's pretty good looking, but.." Lily's voice trailed off. Ash raised her eyebrows at her.

"If he's all of those things, why don't you like him?" she inquired. Lily bit her lip. Why didn't she like him if she had just said all of those things?

"I just.. don't." Lily said lamely. Nidale sighed.

"If you say so." she said slyly, "Okay, it's your turn."

Lily grinned.

"Rochelle, truth or dare?" she asked, turning to look at the strawberry blondie. Rochelle smirked.

"Dare." she said cautiously. Lily cackled to herself, making Rochelle go pale.

"Rochelle, I dare you to go down to the common room where all of the Marauders are and kiss Sirius Black." Lily said evilly. Rochelle's eyes bugged out, but she kept her cool.

"And we all have to go down with you to make sure it happens." Lily added. Rochelle sighed.

"I'll do it." she said finally. Nidale, Lily, Ash, and Jackie all started laughing hysterically and they filed out of the door and into the common room.

"Now, Rochelle, we don't want to see some old grandma kiss, you have to give all you got." Lily whispered. Rochelle winced. The other four girls sat down on arm chairs and started chatting to make it look natural and Rochelle walked over to a corner where Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter were discussing some future prank.

"Sirius?" she said. Sirius and the rest of the Marauders lifted their heads and Sirius stood up and grinned.

"Yes?" he said. Rochelle bit her lip and looked back at her friends. They had all done some sort of thing to keep themselves from bursting into laughter. Rochelle took a deep breath, turned to Sirius, and pulled him into a surprise kiss. She tried her best to --ahem-- "give it all she had". Rochelle could feel the heat rising in her face. She pulled away, took one look at Sirius's pleased face and ran up into the dormitory, closely followed by Lily, Nidale, Ash, and Jackie.

"I can't believe you actually did that!" Nidale said through giggles. Rochelle sighed.

"He is a great kisser." she said absentmindedly. Ash and Jackie rolled their eyes in unsion, Nidale pretended to gag, and Lily decided to ignore the comment. Rochelle seemed to snap out of her dream-like state and turned to Nidale.

"Nidale, truth or dare?" she asked. Nidale thought for a moment.

"Dare." she said. This made Lily feel like an idiot. No one other than her had said truth! Rochelle thought for a moment.

"Nidale, you have to go down stairs and 'confess' your undieing love for James Potter." she said slyly. Nidale laughed. Lily turned a little red.

"Fine." Nidale said, smiling.

"Who wants to be the wittness?" she asked. Lily stood up.

"I will." she said casually. She and Nidale walked down to the common room and Nidale walked over to the Marauders while Lily watched from afar.

"Okay, listen, James, we're all playing truth or dare and Rochelle dared me to come down here and confess my so called 'undieing love' for you. So, could you just please go along with it and make it look real?" Nidale asked pleadingly. James gave her a perplexed look, but then--

"But, Nidale! You can't love me, I'm in love with someone else!" James said loudly. Nidale was confused at first, but then she understood.

"Fine then, James! I don't know what all those girls see in you!" Nidale cried emotionally. She took a deep breath and pretended to slap James across the face. Lily watched with mild interest and wondered vaguely if James was okay. Not that he had actually gotten hit...

"Thanks, James. I owe you." Nidale mouthed and she and Lily walked up to the dormitory.

"I can't believe you slapped him!" Lily cried disbelievingly. Nidale smirked and shrugged as they entered the dormitory.

"Did you do it?" Rochelle asked excitedly. Nidale nodded and Rochelle, Ash, and Jackie started laughing.

"Okay, Ash, truth or dare?" Nidale asked as she and Lily took their seats on the floor. Ash didn't give it a second's thought,

"Dare." she said quickly. Nidale seemed to be thinking hard, trying to come up with a good dare. She snapped her fingers, a sign she had thought of something.

"Ash, you have to dye your hair hot pink and keep it like that for the entire weekend." she said excitedly. Ash grinned.

"You know I hate the color pink." she pointed out. Nidale grinned evilly.

"Exactly." she said happily. Ash sighed and pointed her wand at her hair. She took a deep breath and said a spell similar to what Jackie had said. Two moments later, Ash was transformed into a girl with cotton candy colored hair. She cautiously looked in the mirror and let out a small scream.

"Hey, at least yours is just for the weekend. I'm going to be electric blue for the rest of my life!" Jackie pointed out. The five girls laughed. Ash sighed and turned to Lily.

"Lily, truth or dare?" she asked.

"Dare." Lily said promptly. Ash grinned malaciously as Nidale whispered a dare in her ear.

"Lily Evans, I dare you to go down stairs," she said slowly. Lily raised her eyebrows.

"You dare me to go downstairs?" she asked disbelievingly. Ash rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't done yet! I dare you to go downstairs and kiss James." Ash finished. Lily felt herself losing her stomach and her face turned beet red. Rochelle's eyes flashed with excitement.

"I want to be the wittniss!" she exclaimed. Lily's throat was very dry as she and Rochelle walked down to the common room. Rochelle's and Sirius's eyes met and Rochelle blushed.

"Go ahead." she said smugly. Lily bit her lip and tried, in vain, to calm her flip-flopping stomach.

"Go outside the common room and hide behind a statue or something, 'cause I am not kissing him in front of the other Marauders." Lily said. Rochelle nodded and slipped out of the common room. Lily took a deep breath and walked over to James.

"J-James, could I, uh, talk to you outside?" Lily asked nervously. James flashed his winning smile at Lily and she felt her knees start to give away. He nodded and he and Lily walked out of the common room together.

"Okay, um, well.." Lily stumbled over her words, making her feel like a moron. James gave her a questioning look.

"All right, I, uh, asked you to come out here so.. so I could, um.." Lily stuttered. She took a deep breath and looked into James's hazel eyes. She leaned in and felt his warm lips against her's. She shivered a bit. The mere thought of kissing James Potter sent quivers down her spine. Though she wished she would not feel anything when she kissed him, she silently thought that it was the greatest kiss ever. She could of sworn she heard an excited squeal from Rochelle over by the statue of a one eyed witch. This made her cheeks burn and she knew she was turning red. She quickly pulled away from James, who looked like he was fighting the urge to jump for joy. She bit her lip and wringed her hands.

"Wow." James said, amazed.

"Yeah.." Lily breathed.

"You just--?"

"Well, only because of a dare." Lily said quickly. James's face fell.

"Oh." he said shortly.

"But please don't feel bad, because the truth is.. I rather enjoyed it." Lily said shyly. James looked up at her, making her go even more red.

"Really?" he asked hopefully. Lily nodded.

"But," she said loudly, "We're still just being friends."

James smiled at her and she felt her stomach leave her again.

"That sounds just fine." he said happily. They stood there for a moment, just smiling goofily at each other, before Lily remembered Rochelle was some where close by, watching and probably laughing her head off.

"Well, I'll see you at the prefect's meeting." Lily said brightly. James nodded and walked back into the common room.

"Okay, you can come out, Roch!" Lily called. Just as she had suspected, Rochelle had been hiding behind the statue of a one eyed witch, and she was giggling her head off.

"YOU KISSED HIM!" she said through giggles. Lily turned a light shade of pink.

"That was the dare and I did it." she said simply.

"All right, let's go.. Mrs. Potter." Rochelle said slyly. The two of them walked into the common room and Rochelle and Sirius's eyes met again, making Rochelle blush like crazy. James smiled at Lily and she smiled like a moron back at him.

"Watch it, Lils, you're drooling." Rochelle said, smiling. Lily glared at her and they walked up to the dorm.

"What took forever?" Jackie asked impatiently. "Did she kiss him?"

"Yup. She and James had a nice little snog session and Lily turned the color of her hair." Rochelle said happily. Nidale, Ash, and Jackie started laughing hysterically.

"Shut up!" Lily said, going red.

"So, Lily, you going out with him now?" Ash asked. Lily shook her head.

"We decided to stay friends." she explained. Nidale smirked.

"That'll last a couple of days." she said, rolling her eyes. Lily threw a pillow at her, shutting her up.

"Oh, come on, Lily, I've kissed him before and he's an awesome kisser! You can't look me in the eye and tell me that after the kiss your perspective on him didn't change at all." Ash said, rolling her eyes and twiddling her pink hair. Lily sighed.

"Let's put it this way: it's me against a Marauder and I think I'm starting to lose.." Lily said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Anyways, Jackie, truth or dare?" Lily said after a moment of silence.

BTW- PLEASE REVIEW!

Betsy—you rock! Thanks for reviewing and giving me great feedback!

Rosie—Have you read this on another site? Or are you just psychic? Lol! I wrote this chapters ages ago and it was posted on a different website. Well thanks!

NeyugnNosila—haha if you thought just putting in Nidale in there was cute….wait until I post Lockdown. Mwahahahahahhahahahahaaa!

Angel Chocolate Fairy—thanks so much! You rock my socks!

TennisGrl490—thanks so much! Heres the update!

American Deer Hunter 72—thanks a lot, but…my friend looooves deer, don't hurt them! Lol

IamSiriusgrl—thanks so much! I LOVE U GUYS!

TheMarauders3—I will! Thanks!


	5. Fond Memories

Chapter 5: Fond Memories

In a perfect world, this could never happen  
In a perfect world, you'd still be here  
It makes no sense, I could just pick up the pieces  
But to you, this means nothing  
Nothing at all  
-Simple Plan

"I hate truth or dare," Lily said, sighing. She, James, and Remus were heading down to the Room of Requirement for the Prefects Meeting. At this comment, James grinned slyly at her.

"Really? I quite enjoy the effects it has." He said smoothly. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well, no one made you eat a cockroach," Lily said, crossing her arms. Remus flinched.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say ew," He said shortly.

"Tell me about it! Besides, you're not the one who had to eat the dark, slimy thing!" Lily said grouchily. James chuckled.

"Dark and slimy, hmm? Sounds like Snivellus..." he said, grinning. Lily and Remus both laughed.

"Oh yeah, speaking of Snape, they also made me write a deep, intense love note to him. Signed anonymously of course," Lily added this last part hastily, catching the look on James's face.

The Prefects Meeting went fairly well that night. James almost let slip why Dumbledore wanted them to be extra careful, but Lily caught him just in time.

"I don't get it. What doesn't Dumbledore want us to know?" A Ravenclaw by the name of Sarah Fluster said. James looked over at Lily uneasily.

"You see, he's worried about dea—" James was cut off by a warning look from Lily and he hastily tried to correct himself, "Deaths! He is worried about deaths and uh, yeah, well, hmm, uh, meeting adjourned?"

Sarah, along with many other Prefects, gave James an odd look, but started to move about, collecting their papers. James turned to Lily and grinned sheepishly. Lily smiled at him.

"Nice cover, Mr. Smooth," She said, giggling. She then cleared her throat and looked around the room. Remus was talking with Allison Brigade, but other than that, no one else was left in the Room of Requirement.

"Well, I'm going back to the Girl's Dorm for the night. It's, um, Nidale's last night and I want to be with her," She said quietly. James showed no sign of smiling, but still nodded. Without saying another word, she turned and walked out.

"Mrs. Potter, back from your snog session with James so early?" Jackie asked slyly as Lily entered the dormitory. Lily rolled her eyes and slumped down on her old bed.

"So, what's up?" Ash asked.

"I just wanted to be with you all since it's Nidale's last night at Hogwarts," Lily said, playing around with the hanging thread coming from her comforter. Nidale smiled warmly at her.

That night was spent exchanging memories with each other, sometimes laughing, and sometimes crying.

"Nid, remember that time in the fifth grade at auditions?" Lily asked. Nidale turned red.

"How could I forget?" she asked, giggling.

fLaShBaCk!

_"Sincline, Nidale?" Mr. Warren called. Nidale shot a nervous glance at Lily. _

"You can do it," Lily mouthed. Nidale whimpered and walked up to the piano. This was her first audition for the local theatre group her town had put together and she was dead nervous. She gave Mr. Warren the sheet music for the song she was auditioning with and he rested his hands on the keys of his piano. Mr. Warren started to play, but no signs of, "Memory, all alone in the moonlight," came out of her mouth.

Mr. Warren flashed her an encouraging smile and started again. Nidale sang this time… just not the right song. She flinched and Mr. Warren started the song over for a third time. She took a deep breath and started to sing starting soft but slowly gaining volume. She finished the last quavering note with a huge grin playing on her lips.

EnD oF fLaShBaCk!

"That had to be the most embarrassing moment of my life!" Nidale moaned. Rochelle suddenly grinned.

"Speaking of embarrassing moments, Lils, remember that time in the band room?" she asked slyly. Lily smiled.

"Of course I do!" Lily exclaimed.

fLaShBaCk!

_Lily held the fragile, silver flute in her hand and moved her chair over an inch so a boy with a trombone could slip by. She exhaled a huge breath and smiled. Nothing could ruin this day, even the grouchy Junior Conductor, Julian. Today was her tenth birthday. _

"Now, before we start playing, today is a special day for someone. CoughcoughLilycough." Mr. Nalpak, the band director, announced. Lily looked up with horrified eyes as Rochelle pushed her forward a few steps from the row of saxophones behind Lily. She whimpered slightly.

"Ready guys? 1, 2, 3!" Mr. Nalpak said loudly.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" sang the entire room.

"Cha, cha, cha!" On each cha, Mr. Nalpak took Lily's arms and swung them back and forth. That's a lot of cha's, people.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"

"Cha, cha, cha!"

Lily could see her biggest crush, Joel Wizrad, singing loudly and waving his clarinet around as he did so.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LILY!"

"Cha, cha, cha!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"

"Cha, cha, cha!"

Mr. Nalpak smiled at her and she smiled weakly back at him. She quickly walked back to her seat, a pink tint to her cheeks.

EnD oF fLaShBaCk!

"We used to know a Joel Wizrad, Ash," Jackie said through her fit of giggles. Ashlee thought for a moment.

"Oh yeah! The kid with the tall hair!" Ash exclaimed. This made the entire room burst into more giggles.

"Oh my gosh, remember that time two years ago after exams?" Nidale asked. Lily smirked.

"Who wouldn't?" she retorted.

fLaShBaCk!

_James pouted. He was not in the best mood, since Lily had just declared to him and most of the fifth years that he made her sick. _

"I really don't get her!" he grumbled. He sighed.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?" he asked. There were a few "EWS!" and a couple of cheers. James glanced at Sirius and shrugged. He raised his wand and off came Snape's pants, clearly revealing the gray underwear beneath. James smirked at the crowd but stopped just moments later. He could see Lily's angry face easily. He sighed.

"Why must I like her so much?" he thought miserably. He sighed again and said the counter curse. Snape fell to the ground, snatched his pants, and dashed behind a tree. He came out, fully clothed, and glaring.

"James Potter is so horrible. I can't even imagine kissing a slug like that," Lily said to Ash edgily. Ash raised her eyebrows.

"He actually is a great kisser," She protested. Lily rolled her eyes.

"I guess I'll never know the truth because I am NEVER kissing him," Lily said, shaking her head. Ash smirked.

"We'll just see about that," She said slyly, making Lily glare at her.

EnD oF fLaShBaCk!

Ash grinned triumphantly at Lily.

"Look who was wrong, Ms. Perfection," She said smoothly. Lily rolled her eyes and turned to Rochelle.

"WELL, I'm not the only one who wrongly predicted my own future, hmm, Roch?" Lily asked slyly. Rochelle turned a deep shade of red.

"Ooh, I remember that day!" Jackie exclaimed. Nidale laughed.

"Look at Rochelle go red just thinking about it!" She said, giggling.

fLaShBaCk!

_"SIRIUS BLACK, GET AWAY FROM ME!" 14-year-old Rochelle Williams screamed. Sirius smirked at her. _

"Oh come on, Williams, you know you want me," He said, rolling his eyes. Rochelle raised her eyebrows.

"Want you? I want you to go away!" she said angrily, stomping her foot. Sirius smirked.

"Ask Nidale, she's kissed me before. She knows how good of a kisser I am," He said with a shrug of his shoulders. Rochelle gave him a revolted look.

"Sirius Theodore Black, I would kiss a rat before kissing you," Rochelle spat. Sirius smirked at her.

"Sure, Williams." He said sarcastically. Rochelle glared at him, crossed her arms, and tossed her long, strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder and stomped over to where Lily and Nidale were silently doing their homework.

EnD oF fLaShBaCk!

"Did you ever kiss that rat, Rochelle?" Jackie asked. Rochelle giggled.

"I guess you could say that," She said uncertainly. Lily raised her eyebrows.

"Huh?" she asked. Rochelle suddenly turned crimson.

"Nothing," She said in a squeaky voice. Nidale narrowed her eyes.

"Tell us!" she protested. Rochelle shook her head, her face turning a deeper shade of red.

"Rochelle Williams, how dare you keep a secret from us!" Ash said, grinning. Rochelle took a deep breath.

"Fine. In sixth year, I kissed Severus Snape," She said in a rush.

There was dead silence for a moment, and then,

"AHHHH!"

The other four girls all screamed and it echoed all the way down to the common room where four Marauders were planning a prank. James glanced up uneasily at the dormitory door.

"D'you think they're okay?" he asked. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"They probably just saw a spider." He said with a shrug.

Anyways...

"EW, Rochelle!" Lily said, cringing. Rochelle shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, I'm beat. Good night, all," Nidale said, falling back on her bed. Lily yawned.

"I think I'll sleep here tonight," She said, getting in between the covers of her old bed. Ash, Jackie, and Rochelle followed suit and the girls were soon fast asleep.

The next morning was pretty hard for the girls, especially for Lily. Nidale was leaving bright and early. The five of them, sobbing silently, crept down to the common room where the Marauders had fallen asleep. Lily let out a loud sniffle and James stirred. He lifted his head to see the five girls, each giving Nidale a hug.

"What's going on?" he asked sleepily. Lily turned to him with red, puffy eyes and shook her red head.

"Go back to sleep, James," She said quietly. She turned back to Nidale and embraced her best friend in a tight hug.

"Remember, we're all still going to meet together," She whispered. Nidale nodded, her eyes flowing with tears. She picked up her many bags and slowly walked out of the common room. James got to his feet and walked over to Lily. Rochelle, Ash, and Jackie immediately walked up to the dormitory to leave the two alone.

"Lily, are you going to be okay?" he asked, taking a step closer to her. Lily shrugged.

"I really don't know. I feel horrible," She said, letting another tear cascade down her cheek. James moved close enough to give her a hug and Lily didn't fight back. James pulled her closer and just as he leaned in for the kiss, Lily moved away. She shook her head at him and ran up the stairs, to the girl's dormitory.

James sighed and turned to see Sirius smirking at him. James raised his eyebrows.

"How much of that did you see?" he asked nervously. Sirius continued to smirk at him.

"Enough to know that she is not too happy with you right now," He said with a shrug of his shoulders. James grunted and sat down on an armchair.

"Great," He grumbled. He sighed again and turned to Sirius, saying,

"So what do you think is up with Ash and Jackie's hair?"

**A/N Surprising chapter coming up...and just when you think the surprise is over, there is another surprise! and just when you think that is over...say it with me: ANOTHER SURPRISE! And sorry, but none of them are surprises you guys are going to enjoy...o well! lol pleez review!**


	6. Quiddich Tryouts

Chapter Six: Quiddich Try-outs

I want you  
I need you  
Everything about you means something to me  
My fragile heart is in your hands  
So what will you do?  
I mean no harm  
I hope you don't go falling to another boy's (A/N originally "girl's") arms  
-A Song Written By My Friend… Her band's name is Halo and the song is "I Want You"

"Lily are you going to try out?" Rochelle asked anxiously. Lily shrugged.

"I guess. If you say it's fun." Lily said after a few moments of thinking. Rochelle gave off an excited squeak.

"It will be so much fun! Besides, you'll be able to see JAMES more often!" she said excitedly.

"Number one, I'm not even sure I'll make the team and number two, who says I WANT to spend more time with James?" Lily asked edgily. Rochelle smirked.

"Well, no one said it, per say, it just SEEMS you and James are getting a bit closer." Rochelle said, shrugging. Lily glared.

"Yeah, well, I'm not very happy with him right now. He tried to kiss me." Lily grumbled as she and Rochelle started to walk out of the castle with their brooms. Rochelle giggled.

"And then what? You slapped him?" Rochelle guessed. Lily rolled her eyes.

"No, I did not. I just.. didn't kiss him." Lily said uncertainly. Rochelle raised her eyebrows.

"Why? Lily, he's hot, he has a great body, he's smart, he's funny, and he likes you so much!" Rochelle protested. Lily was about to open her mouth when a different voice cut in.

"Who likes Lily so much?"

Rochelle and Lily, who had just gotten on to the Quiddich pitch, spun around to see James there, bearing a confused face. Lily turned red for a second, but her cheeks turned back to normal quickly.

"No one, we were practicing for our--"

"Uh, our--"

"Play! Yes, our, um.. play." Lily said, snapping her fingers. James gave her an odd look.

"Sure then." he said slowly. He grinned at Lily who smiled back at him, making James go weak at the knees.

"So, Lily, are you here to try out?" he asked casually as the three of them walked onto the Quiddich pitch.

"Yeah. But let me warn you: I'm not that good." she said. Rochelle laughed.

"Remember that time you came over my house two summers ago and we went riding on our brooms?" she asked. She turned to James and said, "Lily knocked over the flower pot, a gnome, and my dog, Sir Flufalot."

James laughed and Lily turned red.

"That was only that one time, I'm not that bad anymore." Lily said, giving her friend a small push.

The three of them sat in the stands, only to be joined by Sirius.

"Well if it isn't the beautiful Rochelle Williams and Mr. and Mrs. Potter!" Sirius exclaimed, putting a dramatic hand on his chest. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Shut it, Sirius." she said stiffly.

"Well, I must be going. I have some--er--captain's business to attend to." James said, getting up. He and Sirius walked out of the stands and onto the field.

"Ah," Rochelle sighed, "Us and our Marauders."

Lily raised her eyebrows.

"Excuse me? James is not "my Marauder"." Lily said quickly. Rochelle smirked.

"Who said I was referring to James? I could have been referring to Remus." she said lightly.

"But you weren't." Lily protested, going red.

"Oh, but I could have. You assumed it was James because you know you like him." Rochelle said triumphantly. Lily glared at her.

"I DON'T LIKE HIM!" she yelled. Rochelle smiled.

"You keep telling yourself that, Lils." Rochelle said, "Well, I must go join the rest of the team. Good luck, Mrs. Potter."

Lily glared at her again for this last comment, but decided to ignore it. She walked down and got in line for the other students trying out for seeker. James gave everyone a little speech and the people trying out for beater started.

Lily could feel her stomach tie up in knots when the beaters were done and it was time for the seekers to try out.

"Bernard, Harris." James called. A stout, dark-haired boy stepped out into clearer view and mounted his broomstick. Lily moaned inside. This boy was very good and caught the snitch in a matter of about seven minutes.

"Evans, Lily." James called. He smiled encouragingly at her, but she didn't return the smile. She took a deep breath, mounted her broom, and rose into the air. She let the wind blow through her red hair for a moment before reminding herself she was supposed to be looking for the snitch.

She wasn't exactly sure how long it took her to find the snitch, but she was very relieved when she did so. She hit the ground softly and wandered over to Rochelle, her legs feeling odd, as they always do after she got off her broomstick.

"You did great, Lily! You didn't knock over any dogs!" Rochelle exclaimed. Lily smiled warmly at her friend and looked back to the pitch where Green, Sylvia was looking for the snitch. James was watching the third year with deep concentration and Lily wondered if he had looked at her like that. As if reading her mind, Rochelle piped up,

"Gee, the way James was looking at you while you were flying! It was like his life was depending on watching your every movement."

Lily didn't say anything. She just nodded mutely and sighed.

"What a confusing life I live.." she thought.

That night, they would be posting the results of the try-outs in the common room and Lily couldn't be more anxious. She, Rochelle, Ash, and Jackie sat at dinner that night, talking about the try-outs.

"You know, the team didn't let James vote for seeker." Rochelle said, smirking.

"Why?" Ash and Jackie asked together.

"We all assumed he would vote for Lily." Rochelle said with a shrug. Ash and Jackie burst into laughter and Lily was about to scold them for it when she heard her name being called.

"Lily Evans?"

The four girls spun around and Lily jumped from her seat at the table. She flew into the arms of the boy before her. He had golden-brown hair and brown eyes.

"Bryan!" Lily squealed, hugging him tighter.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she and Bryan sat down at the table.

"My father's job got relocated again and we're back here." he said excitedly.

"Bryan White, is it? Lily's old boyfriend?" Rochelle asked uncertainly. Bryan nodded.

"Hey, Prongs." Sirius whispered. He and the other Marauders were about twenty seats away from Lily and her friends, but Sirius had heard Lily's excited squeal.

James looked up questioningly at his friend and Sirius nodded over to where Lily was resting her head on Bryan's shoulder. James looked over and his eyes narrowed.

"White? Why is he here?" he asked miserably. Bryan and Lily had gone out from the middle of fourth year to the end of fifth year, but then Bryan's father's job was relocated to Egypt and he had to move. Lily had been heart-broken. James could remember trying to comfort her, only to be slapped across the face.

"I dunno, but Lily looks pretty excited about it." Remus said, squeezing into the conversation. James glared at Bryan, who was smiling his pretty-boy smile with his perfect, white teeth.

"Bryan White is what makes my blood boil." James thought angrily.

"The Quiddich results are up, Lily!" Jackie exclaimed in the common room that night. Lily looked up from her game of Wizards' Chess with Rochelle. Rochelle took the opportunity to switch Lily's knight with a pawn at super speed. Lily walked up to the corner where James had hung the beater and seeker results.

"Gryffindor's new beater is Jerry Menime and the new seeker is--" Jackie stopped and looked over at the anxious Lily. Jackie bit her lip.

"You know, Quiddich really is over rated--" Jackie started. Lily's jaw dropped and she pushed past Jackie to look at the poster for herself.

"I didn't make it." Lily grumbled. Jackie gave her a sympathetic look. Lily sighed.

"Oh well. It was worth a shot," she said, smiling. Jackie smiled back at her. The two of them returned to where Rochelle was sitting at the chessboard and Ash was chatting with Remus Lupin. Lily studied the board for a second and was about to open her mouth, probably to ask Rochelle if she changed anything when James and Sirius sat down in two vacant arm chairs next to Lily.

"Sorry you didn't make the team, Lily." James said quietly. Lily flashed him a small smile.

"It's okay. Quiddich never really was my sport. Actually, I don't really have a sport." Lily said thoughtfully. Rochelle laughed.

"That's just an understatement. You quit soccer after a month in the third grade and only went to two basketball practices in fifth grade." Rochelle said, rolling her eyes. James and Sirius exchanged confused glances.

"What's soccer?"

"What's basketball?"

Lily sighed.

"Muggle sports." she explained.

"Ooooh!" Sirius and James chorused.

**A/N Sorry this was so short! I won't make it a habit! I promise the next one will be longer! And definitely..hmm.. shocking.**


	7. Shocks That Reveal the Truth

**Chapter Seven: Shocks that Reveal the Truth**

To be hurt  
To feel lost  
To be left out in the dark  
To be kicked when you're down  
To feel like you've been pushed around  
To be on the edge of breaking down and no one's there to save you  
No you don't know like  
Welcome to my life  
-Simple Plan, Welcome to my Life

Lily was in high spirits the next morning. Sure, she didn't make it on the Quiddich Team, but Bryan came back! Bryan came over from the Ravenclaw table and sat at the Gryffindor table to sit next to Lily. James pouted for a minute but then decided to be mad about it later.

"Did you see the Daily Prophet?" Remus asked, looking over at Lily. Lily shook her head and Remus handed her the newspaper. Lily scanned through it and shuddered.

"That's horrible," she said softly. James raised his eyebrows.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The Wimbourne Wasps and the Chudley Cannons got into a huge fight and the Wasps' keeper was killed," Lily said, taking a bite out of her toast.

"McKinley is dead?" Ash asked, her eyes growing wide. Lily nodded.

"Wow, that's terrible," Jackie said, shaking her head in disgust.

"Speaking of Quiddich, it's a shame you didn't make the Quiddich team, Lil," Bryan said, glaring at James as if to say it was his fault Lily didn't make it. James was about to point out that the team didn't even let him vote for seeker because they all assumed he would vote for Lily, but he decided better of it. Lily smiled at Bryan as the morning post came in.

"Lily, you got an owl," Rochelle said, motioning to a silvery-white owl Lily did not recognize. She took the letter from the owl, it hooted, and flew out of the Great Hall. Lily opened the letter and, recognizing her father's messy handwriting, read to herself,

_  
Dear Lily,_

I'm sending this with a rental owl. I'm sorry to say I have grave news. On her way to Morocco, those Death Eater things attacked Nidale. According to your Head Master, they broke into the school over the holidays and stole something. This next part is rather fuzzy to me, because I think your Headmaster thought I would not understand, not being a wizard and all, but I'll give it my best.

Someone in your school made a list of all the Muggle-borns that attend Hogwarts. Dumbledore has great reason to believe it was a teacher, because the he always found multiple copies of the list all around his office. Before he had the chance to destroy them, someone stole them and that person obviously has something against Muggleborns, because they sent alliances to find Nidale.

I am deeply sorry to say Nidale was killed. Her funeral is to be held in Morocco, with her entire family. Watch out, Lily.

-Your Father

Lily felt the tears rush to her eyes.

"What does it say?" Ash asked quickly. Lily hiccupped slightly. Feeling the tears fall down her face, she ran out of the Great Hall and down the corridor. She ran blindly into the Head's Room and broke down, crying, on an armchair. Back in the Great Hall, Rochelle had picked up the letter Lily had left carelessly on the table.

"Oh my gosh. Nidale is d-dead," Rochelle said faintly. James froze for a split second before jumping out of his seat, as if electrified, and followed Lily out of the Great Hall. 

"She's not in the common room," he thought anxiously. He then entered the Head's Room to loud, anguished sobs.

"Lily?" he said cautiously. Lily lifted her pale head. Her eyes were red and puffy and the usually bright, excited emeralds were dark with misery. James ran over to her and embraced her in a hug. She cried loudly into his shoulder and he rocked her back and forth, not exactly sure how to comfort her. After a good ten minutes of this, she pulled away and bit her lip.

"Dumbledore knows why they broke into the school now," she said quietly. James raised his eyebrows.

"Why?"

"They stole a list of all the Muggle borns. That's why they killed Nidale. She was a Muggle born, James. Hogwarts isn't safe anymore," Lily said in a high-pitched voice. She looked up into his deep, hazel eyes and saw not cockiness, not fury, not any emotion she had ever seen in those eyes before. This time was different. This time, she saw fear.

"But Lily...you're Muggle born," James said slowly. Lily nodded.

"None of the Muggle borns are safe," she whimpered. It hit James suddenly. Lily was in danger. But how? He had never imagined Lily to be in danger. Sure, she was ridiculed for being Muggle born, but this was actual, life threatening danger. But perfect Lily? James had always been sure her life had been flawless...

"Lily, you-- I-- we--" James was completely lost for words. Lily took a deep breath and felt herself moving closer to James. His warm breath was caressing her face and she felt a wave of dizziness sweep over her. She was absolutely sure they were about to kiss when there was a shout.

"OY! PRONGS, YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR POTIONS IF YOU DON'T MOVE!" 

Sirius was yelling from outside the portrait hole. Lily moved away from James, a pink tinge to her face. She took a deep breath again and stood up.

"I'm not going to class," she said awkwardly. James stood up, also.

"Okay, uh...I'll explain to Salandar," he said, shifting around uncomfortably. He walked out to see the rest of the Marauders and the girls standing there. Rochelle was crying openly. It seemed as though Ash was trying to keep a strong face. James had a strong suspicion Jackie was crying; Remus had his arm around her and she was covering her face from view. 

"Well, lets get moving," Peter said softly. James shot a quick, angry look at Sirius for interrupting his moment with Lily, but then decided he would also be mad about that later.

"Wait, where's Lily?" Sirius asked.

"She's not going to class," James explained. Rochelle, Ash, and Jackie looked up.

"We should go talk to her," Ash suggested in a tearstained voice. Rochelle nodded numbly and Jackie just sniffled in response. The boys nodded in agreement.

The four of them trudged down to the dungeons while Rochelle, Jackie, and Ash went to go cry with Lily. Their moods and the area made James even more depressed. _How could this happen?_ he thought miserably, _I thought this would be my best year at Hogwarts, being Head Boy and all. But it's just my worst!_

They then began to continue their Blood-Replenishing Potions they had been working on since last class.

James stirred his potion rather numbly, not noticing how cold and sinister it was down in the dungeons. He felt so bad for Lily. When she was miserable, he was miserable. He didn't feel like planning a prank with the Marauders, beating on Snape, watching Sirius hit on random hot girls...

"So, Potter," came a sly, icy voice. James spun around and saw the one and only Severus Snape sitting at the desk behind his.

"Where's your mudblood girlfriend?" Snape asked smugly. James took a deep breath and shot a glance at Salandar to make sure he wasn't watching.

"None of your business," James said slowly, gritting his teeth. _Keep under control_, he told himself, _Lily wouldn't want me to get into a fight_.

"I suppose she's off crying about her mudblood friend," Snape said most unsympathetically. "Or maybe she's just skipping class. Yes, that's probably it. She wouldn't be crying because mudbloods have no feelings."

All thoughts of staying under control left James and he felt a wave of fury wash over him. He turned around, raised his fist and took a swing at Snape. Snape grunted softly when he felt his right cheek start to bruise. A few girls gasped and Salandar looked up.

"Fighting, Mr. Potter? You can serve detention tonight," Salandar said lazily. Salandar had caught James fighting with Severus several times and it was nothing new to him. James scowled at the old man and turned back to his potion.

Patrols that night was very quiet. Lily spoke of nothing and James thought it best not to disturb her. She was obviously depressed and he was obviously sore. He had just gotten back from his detention with Salandar, who had made him clean the entire potions dungeon Muggle style. They both headed back to the Head's Room in silence. James stopped at the foot of his stairs and turned to see Lily lying on the couch.

"Aren't you going to bed?" he asked. Lily looked up at him, lifting her head slowly. She stood up and walked over to him, unaware of her movements. She leaned closer to him and felt that same wave of dizziness sweep over her. She loved that feeling. Lily moved closer and closer and James felt his whole body tense up.

Lily, confused about whatever she was doing, pressed her lips against his. James was highly surprised, as was Lily. She pulled away from him, a look a worry plastered on her face. She turned around and threw herself on an armchair, sobbing again. James hung his head for a moment, wondering what had just happened. Lily had kissed him... but she was going out with Bryan... and now she was crying...

"Lily?"

"Just go away, Potter!" Lily cried, her voice muffled. James felt his heart fall.

"So we kiss and now it's Potter again?" he said coldly. Lily sighed.

"I'm sorry, James, I just so damn confused," she said, lifting her head from the arm of the armchair.

James sat down next to her.

"Can I tell you something?" James asked slowly. Lily nodded.

"Lily Evans, I love you."


End file.
